The union said the “deal” in question could leave the future of about 600 workers “hanging in the limbo”.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it will embark on a protest march against De Beers next week to force the company to temporary halt the sale of its Kimberley Mines until it consults the labour body.
“NUM members at Kimberley Mines are extremely concerned that the sale of the Kimberley Mines was announced through the media,” said NUM in a statement on Tuesday. The union said it was also unhappy that its “structures were never consulted”.
On the 16 September 2014, De Beers announced that Kimberley Mines will be looking at three options – closure of the mine in 2018, other mining methods to extend the mine’s life beyond 2018 or selling it to a third party.
NUM said next Thursday its members “will be voicing their anger, disappointment and sadness” at the manner in which De Beers sold Kimberley Mines to Ekapa Mining & Petra Diamonds without consultation.
The union said the “deal” in question could leave the future of about 600 workers “hanging in the limbo”.
“We believe that De Beers has got a hidden agenda since it is only known for its bad legacy of extracting our country’s minerals and exploiting our people,” said NUM.
“There is nothing to write home about in terms of De Beers corporate social responsibility, beneficiation, providing and facilitating a secondary economy, let alone transforming the industry.”
“The worst and most disdainful attitude this company displays is colonisation of our economy by ripping off our country’s wealth that has helped to build the western world leaving us in absolute and grinding poverty”.
The union said it would fight to the “bitter end” in pursuit of “our right” to claim payments from De Beers against shares, which it said have been due since March 2014.
“We will, therefore, demand that De Beers should sojourn the sale of this mine and restart the consultation process which entails among others, compliance with Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act as a whole, ensuring the sustainable employment and job security of our members, exhausting other options instead of setting employees up for possible downward variation of the conditions of employment,” said NUM.
De Beers was not immediately available for comment.
Via African News Agency (ANA)
In December, DBCM sold its Northern Cape assets, including tailings dumps and a processing plant, for R102-million in cash to a consortium comprising Kimberley-based surface diamond mining company Ekapa Mining and London-listed Petra Diamonds.
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